Homeschool

Many homeschooling families think they need to go out and spend thousands of dollars on a curriculum. While this is something you can do, you don’t have to! I have spent two years homeschooling my kids and know all the Benefits of Homeschooling with a Homemade Curriculum. One year we made up our own curriculum and this past year we bought curriculum. There are perks to both!

Benefits of Homeschooling with a Homemade Curriculum

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#1. You’ll spend less money

The truth is that you will spend a lot less money on a homemade curriculum. Store bought curriculum can be super expensive. This past school year, we spend $1100 on a 1st-grade curriculum and a 3rd-grade curriculum. So, the truth is, if you’re frugal enough, you will spend way less money on a homemade curriculum. We chose to buy brand new boxed curriculum this year. While I don’t regret it, I know I could have spent less putting together my own curriculum.

#2. You can customize it to your child

A homemade curriculum can be customized to your child. You can pick and choose what they’re learning, instead of following a specific set. Let’s say your child needs help on fractions and they’re really struggling. You can spend more time on fractions, rather than moving on to a new skill that they’re not ready for! The issue with using boxed curriculum is not every child learns the same. In some ways, you have to customize a boxed curriculum to fit your child. If you’re going to do this, you might as well create your own homemade curriculum.

We love using blank homeschool planners to create a unit study and list of things to learn that suits our child. This works much better for me to keep track of what my children need to learn versus what they have already learned. Customization is a great addition to any homeschool classroom.

#3. You have endless resources

Like I mentioned before, homemade curriculum means you have endless resources. The Internet and the library have changed the way people homeschool. You can literally create your own homemade curriculum. Here are some of the resources I’ve used when creating my own homemade curriculum.

Head to your local library to see what resources they have available. You can switch up the curriculum without spending a dime.

Printing off worksheets. Sure, worksheets can get annoying, but this is also a cheap way to create a homemade curriculum. There are thousands of endless free worksheets out there you can use.

Online curriculum or resources – Usually, online resources are cheaper than buying the books. For an example, you can use Easy Peasy as a free resource for homeschooling your kids. There are dozens of resources like this all over the Internet.

#4. You may find yourself less stressed

Many store bought curriculums are VERY thorough. You may find your family is stressed trying to get through everything. A homemade curriculum will allow you to feel less stressed. You can pick out the important topics instead of doing busy work. You get to decide what’s important for your children to learn. Homeschooling can be stressful if you add too much to your plate. This is one of the best things about creating your own curriculum.

There are many benefits to homeschooling with a homemade curriculum. One of my favorite reasons is to save money! You don’t have to be rich to homeschool. You may feel as though your child is missing out by not buying them the expensive curriculum, but this isn’t true.

Homeschooling is one of those adventures that can be expensive! You think it’s going to be inexpensive, but then everything starts adding up. That’s why I am happy to share How to Homeschool Multiple Grade Levels on a Budget. If you have multiple grade levels to homeschool, it can be hard to do it on a budget. You aren’t the first person to homeschool multiple grade levels though, it’s all about learning from those who have gone before you!

How to Homeschool Multiple Grade Levels on a Budget

I am a BookShark Homeschool Curriculum partner this year. While I was not paid for this post, I did receive free curriculum in exchange for sharing my opinion.

Homeschooling on a budget is a must for most of us. When you have children of all ages, it can get expensive fast. That’s why learning how to homeschool multiple grade levels on a budget is a must and is truly easier than you think!

Choose a curriculum that covers multiple ages

This is one of the biggest reasons that BookShark is a highly recommended curriculum. Being able to use one level over a few ages and grades really has a ton of benefits. Katie started with Level 6 for her son who was in 5th grade early this year. While they didn’t finish the full curriculum by the end of their school year, they can go back and use this level for him to continue into what would traditionally be 6th grade.

How is this possible? Because this curriculum is all about teaching naturally on the level your child is currently learning. With the History and Language Arts working together so well, all you have to do is chose additional things like a spelling program, creative writing program, or your own additional homemade worksheets. So, for my 5th grader and my 3rd grader, I could easily use Level 4 or even Level 5. I would work through the same books and timeline with them together, but then add in closer to grade level spelling drills, handwriting practice or even creative writing prompts.

BookShark gives you a chance to cover multiple ages of children all for one price. You can do read aloud books together, and let children take turns with the books, or even pick up extra copies if desired.

Reuse curriculum from an older child

If you’re going to continue homeschooling, don’t get rid of your previously used curriculum. You can easily rescue that curriculum for your next child. Reusing curriculum is a very budget friendly way to homeschool multiple grade levels on a budget. Here are some tips for reusing curriculum.

Make copies of worksheets instead of having the student write in the workbook.

Use a separate sheet of papers for the answers.

Remind your child to take extra good care of the curriculum.

Take precautions to protect the outside of the workbooks and books!

This is a perfect way to use curriculum that you can purchase and use multiple years without spending so much up front. With BookShark, you naturally have an option to reuse for younger children or use together if close in educational level.

Visit local science museums

One of our favorite things is to visit local science museums. There are tons of great learning experiences that appeal to all ages in one location. We’ve often spent hours learning about waterworks, plant life, or even engineering. The best thing about science museums is that they usually have the same concepts repeated in multiple areas on multiple levels to ensure everyone can understand and learn no matter their age.

We have used our BookShark Science curriculum to learn about many things, and even done the experiments that come with the curriculum, but sometimes we want to see things on a larger scale. Heading to the local museum helps us to do more hands on learning while still having fun with science.

Spend time teaching your children the same concepts

Not every concept has to be taught differently. For example, you could spend time teaching all your children about fractions. They don’t have to be a certain grade level to necessarily learn a new concept. You can do unit studies to help save money, but also your sanity. This is one of the best methods of education, as it also allows you to dive into deeper concepts with older students while reviewing basics.

It is also another great reason that using BookShark works so well. You are teaching a lot of the main concepts together but can also break things down to grade level if needed.

Head to the library – for real

If you have not used the library as a resource for homeschooling multiple grade levels on a budget, then you’re missing out. You can even look online to see what is available before you head to the library. There are apps in which you can use your library card to read books. You can put books on hold and you can go exploring to find books you never thought you’d use. Utilize the library as much as you can, especially if you’re using a homemade curriculum with your kids.

BookShark really fosters a love of reading in your children. The library is a great resource that can help you find even more books that fit the topic of study, or those extra copies needed for you to read together.

Go on field trips to regional locations

Weekly field trips are a huge part of our homeschool routine. We can easily teach while exploring a museum, a local arboretum, the capital building, or even city hall. In fact, one friend took her children recently to a local grocery store and had the kids learn a little about each department and how they work. It is simple to adapt to individual needs of your children but still be family-friendly in the process.

BookShark gives you a 4-day school week that makes field trips fit easily into your routine. You aren’t tied down to a Monday-Friday school schedule, and that makes it a ton easier to manage fun field trips and downtime.

So, the next time you’re wondering if you can homeschool multiple grade levels on a budget, know that you can. Do you have any tips to pass on to other homeschool parents?

We are huge fans of reading, and I am happy to say so are all of our kids here at You Brew My Tea. That’s why I wanted to share some of our Top Kids Book Club Books that are for all different ages. This list has great options you can use for group reading with friends, or a formal book club.

Kids Book Club Books: Best Picks for All Ages

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Even if you don’t read to your child every day, reading is an important part of your routine. We started reading at an early age with our son, and pretty soon he could pick the books he loved and bring them to us to read. That includes some of these popular items on this list, as well as some we had handed down from parents and grandparents. We hope the lists below help you with your kids and potential book clubs in the future!

Take advantage of our favorites list to create a kids book club books list that you can work through with your children. These are all perfect for reading in leisure time or for educational purposes if you are a homeschooler!

One of our biggest struggles with homeschooling has been really getting the Wee Child to embrace language arts. That’s why I was so excited about Learning Language Arts with Literature using our sponsor BookShark. When I started exploring their options, I was intrigued by how they included reading so fluidly with language arts.

Homeschool Tips for Learning Language Arts with Literature

If you haven’t seen our other BookShark posts, make sure to check out why we love BookShark Homeschool Curriculum, and specifically our thoughts on why we love BookShark history curriculum. We have really enjoyed the process of getting to know how BookShark works for our family, and honestly, couldn’t be happier with the experience. As we delve into more each week, we are learning that the program truly is fluid and ideal for our son and his needs. Learning language arts with literature just makes sense to me, and BookShark has given us that opportunity.

Below are some of the things we love the most about the BookShark Language Arts program, and that I feel work the best to teach the Wee Child the basics of language without it feeling too much like “school” to him.

Use reading out loud to emphasize inflection

One of the biggest reasons we fell in love with BookShark was the reading out loud portions. I have always hated giving my son an assignment to be completed. I wanted to be able to be a part of the process and to read to him or read with him, but it hasn’t always been so easy. With BookShark, you are learning language arts with literature because as part of their history program, you are reading out loud to your child from some of the books assigned to their level. Reading out loud helps you to give proper inflection and pronunciation which will teach them to see those words and recognize them better later down the road. On some books, we have picked up a second copy so he can easily follow along with me.

Break down paragraphs for sentence structure

After we go through a chapter or passage of assigned reading, we work together to break down the paragraphs to recognize specifics. This includes looking at proper sentence structure and recognizing things like run-on sentences, etc. As BookShark Language Arts has various specific assigned items, this is part of it on some days, but not others.

I use this frequently because I feel like learning language arts with literature comes naturally when you just look at the individual sentences to see how they work together. The Wee Child can ask questions about why they used specific punctuation, and I can also make a note or point out different words used for descriptions, etc. when trying to form a paragraph.

Assign creative writing around topics of books

Our son really struggles with writing. Not only does he not enjoy handwriting anything (he prefers typing), he often gets hung up on creative writing assignments. Starting from scratch can be tough for him to manage. Being able to assign a topic for him to use to write is so much easier when we have a book or text to base it upon. I can tell him to write about a topic covered, a theme, or to notice the type of descriptions used within the passage.

Review parts of speech via passages from literature

While this may be something most cover in the early years of education, I find it is also a great way to use literature to reinforce those basics. We often take time to go over a sentence that is more complex to review parts of speech with our son. This is an ideal and easy way to enforce the basic educational concepts while not feeling like school.

As we have progressed through BookShark Level 6 Language Arts, I am impressed by how easy it is to follow along with the history program. The basis of the program is using the same literature books in the history program to build your language arts activities around. This is totally fluid and works perfectly for our son. We can read our daily assignments in history, and easily move right into using those same passages for the language arts assignments.

There are an overwhelming amount of Math Activities for Preschoolers. It’s amazing all of the ways you can help your preschooler learn math. Everything from using what you already have – to buying activities marketed specifically for teaching math. Here I will share with you some of my favorite activities and products that I have used with my own children.

Math Activities for Preschoolers

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Even if you don’t plan to homeschool your children, you can start with some natural playtime education ideas. Working with them as they play, or on weekends when you have downtime with them is so important. These activities for preschoolers are tons of fun and a great way to teach them!

Daily Activities

During your normal daily routine, there are plenty of opportunities for teaching your preschooler math. Everything from counting the number of food items on your preschooler’s plate during meals to counting arms, legs, toes, eyes, fingers etc while they play.

During playtime count the building blocks or number of toys your preschooler is playing with. Count stop signs you stop at while driving. There really is a limitless number of things you can count during your daily routine. Just be creative.

Make Your Own

Using construction paper or colorful cardstock cut out number shapes. Stick them around the house or, if it is easier, you can stay in one room. Call out a number and have your preschooler find that number. Celebrate when they find the right number and if they find a different number praise and correct them by saying “I see you found number ____ great job. We were looking for number ___ can you try again?”

You can make note cards with numbers on them and use it as a homemade matching game. I also suggest decorating the cards with stickers. Making sure that each card has the same number of stickers as the number written on it. Spread the cards out in a big pile and let your preschooler match them.

Once your preschooler has conquered matching the cards turn it into two separate number decks. Take one deck and hide them around the room. Have your preschooler pick a card from the second deck and then go search for the matching card only bringing back matching cards to you.

Printables

Online you can find printable coloring sheets or activity sheets to print off that have to do with numbers as well. If you use this as an option, you can sit with your child and talk about the number on the sheet and practice counting to that number. We have our own set of Kindergarten Printables, but there are more you can find on sites like Worksheet Fun.

Buy It

There are several items you can buy to help your preschooler with math. It is easy to feel overwhelmed when you are looking around but, there are only a few items that I would say are “necessary”. I use necessary very loosely here and nothing is necessary to teach your preschooler math but, these items may help make it more fun and slightly easier.

These peg boards are perfect for when it comes to combining knowing the numbers and visualizing what that number looks like. A couple other great universal tools for counting are counting bears or, Mara’s Counting Box.

Tips

First, figure out how and when your preschool learns best. Each child has a time frame during the day when they are at their best and are most likely to learn the best. Take that time frame to teach new concepts.

While some kids do learn better when being quizzed with flashcards, many kids are actually overwhelmed with this style of learning. Instead, I suggest keeping it light and fun. Take the small opportunities where they pop up during your daily routine and be sure to reinforce the concepts they have already picked up and slowly introduce new concepts (ie. they know how to count so then you would introduce what numbers look like).

There are several different ways to teach a child new concepts so, if they aren’t grasping this new concept the way you are trying, ask around and try a new way.

When I am investing in something on the pricier side like the counting bears or Mara’s Counting Box, I like to make sure that the item is versatile and will grow with my child. Both of these items can be used for sorting, counting, color identification, grouping, adding, subtracting and several other ways as well.

The easiest way to get your preschool to learn anything is to be repetitive. When it feels like you have repeated yourself too many times, repeat it a bunch more times. Even if your preschooler doesn’t seem like they are grasping the concept, give them time, they will get it. They learn best when they are playing so dive in and watch the “ah ha” moments appear.